Chapter VII.—The Utility of Fear. Objections Answered.

Those, who denounce fear, assail the law;
and if the law, plainly also God, who gave the law. For these three
elements are of necessity presented in the subject on hand: the ruler,
his administration, and the ruled. If, then, according to hypothesis,
they abolish the law; then, by necessary consequence, each one who is
led by lust, courting pleasure, must neglect what is right and despise
the Deity, and fearlessly indulge in impiety and injustice together,
having dashed away from the truth.

Yea, say they, fear is an
irrational aberration,22232223 Instead of ἔκκλισις,
it has been proposed to read ἔκλυσις,
a term applied by the Stoics to fear;
but we have ἔκκλισις
immediately after. and perturbation of mind. What
sayest thou? And how can this definition be any longer maintained,
seeing the commandment is given me by the Word? But the commandment
forbids, hanging fear over the head of those who have incurred22242224 According to the correction
and translation of Lowth, who reads τῶν οὔτῶ
ἐπιδεχομένων
instead of τὸν
οὔτως, etc., of the text.
admonition for their discipline.

Fear is not then irrational. It is therefore
rational. How could it be otherwise, exhorting as it does, Thou
shalt not kill, Thou shalt not commit adultery, Thou shalt not steal,
Than shalt not bear false witness? But if they will quibble about
the names, let the philosophers term the fear of the law, cautious
fear, (εὐλάβεια)
355which
is a shunning (ἔκκλισις)
agreeable to reason. Such Critolaus of Phasela not
inaptly called fighters about names (ὀνοματομάκοι).
The commandment, then, has already appeared fair and
lovely even in the highest degree, when conceived under a
change of name. Cautious fear (εὐλάβεια)
is therefore shown to be reasonable, being the shunning of what
hurts; from which arises repentance for previous sins. “For
the fear of the Lord
is the beginning of wisdom; good understanding is to all that
do it.”22252225Ps. cxi. 10. He calls wisdom a doing, which is the fear
of the Lord paving the way for wisdom. But if the law produces fear,
the knowledge of the law is the beginning of wisdom; and a man is not
wise without law. Therefore those who reject the law are unwise; and in
consequence they are reckoned godless (ἄθεοι).
Now instruction is the beginning of wisdom. “But the ungodly
despise wisdom and instruction,”22262226Prov. i. 7. saith the Scripture.

Let us see what terrors the law announces. If it is the
things which hold an intermediate place between virtue and vice, such
as poverty, disease, obscurity, and humble birth, and the like, these
things civil laws hold forth, and are praised for so doing. And those
of the Peripatetic school, who introduce three kinds of good things,
and think that their opposites are evil, this opinion suits. But the
law given to us enjoins us to shun what are in reality bad
things—adultery, uncleanness, pæderasty, ignorance, wickedness,
soul-disease, death (not that which severs the soul from the body, but
that which severs the soul from truth). For these are vices in reality,
and the workings that proceed from them are dreadful and terrible.
“For not unjustly,” say the divine oracles, “are the
nets spread for birds; for they who are accomplices in blood treasure
up evils to themselves.”22272227Prov. i. 17, 18, “Surely in
vain the net is spread in the sight of any bird, and they lay wait for
their own blood.” How, then, is the law
still said to be not good by certain heresies that clamorously appeal
to the apostle, who says, “For by the law is the knowledge of
sin?”22282228Rom. iii. 20. To whom we say, The law did not cause, but
showed sin. For, enjoining what is to be done, it reprehended what
ought not to be done. And it is the part of the good to teach what is
salutary, and to point out what is deleterious; and to counsel the
practice of the one, and to command to shun the other. Now the apostle,
whom they do not comprehend, said that by the law the knowledge of sin
was manifested, not that from it it derived its existence. And how can
the law be not good, which trains, which is given as the instructor
(παιδαγωγός)
to Christ,22292229Gal. iii. 24. that being corrected by fear, in the way of
discipline, in order to the attainment of the perfection which is by
Christ? “I will not,” it is said, “the death of the
sinner, as his repentance.”22302230Ezek. xxxiii. 11, xviii. 23, 32. Now the commandment
works repentance; inasmuch as it deters22312231 Adopting the conjecture which, by a
change from the accusative to the nominative, refers
“deters,” and “enjoins,” to the commandment
instead of to repentance, according to the teaching of the text. from what ought not to
be done, and enjoins good deeds. By ignorance he means, in my opinion,
death. “And he that is near the Lord is full of
stripes.”22322232Judith viii. 27. Plainly, he, that draws near to knowledge, has
the benefit of perils, fears, troubles, afflictions, by reason of his
desire for the truth. “For the son who is instructed turns out
wise, and an intelligent son is saved from burning. And an intelligent
son will receive the commandments.”22332233Prov. x. 4, 5, 8. And Barnabas the
apostle having said, “Woe to those who are wise in their own
conceits, clever in their own eyes,”22342234Isa. v. 21. added, “Let us
become spiritual, a perfect temple to God; let us, as far as in us
lies, practice the fear of God, and strive to keep His commands, that
we may rejoice in His judgments.”22352235 [See vol. i. p. 139. S.] Whence “the fear
of God” is divinely said to be the beginning of wisdom.22362236Prov. i. 7.

2223 Instead of ἔκκλισις,
it has been proposed to read ἔκλυσις,
a term applied by the Stoics to fear;
but we have ἔκκλισις
immediately after.

2224 According to the correction
and translation of Lowth, who reads τῶν οὔτῶ
ἐπιδεχομένων
instead of τὸν
οὔτως, etc., of the text.

2231 Adopting the conjecture which, by a
change from the accusative to the nominative, refers
“deters,” and “enjoins,” to the commandment
instead of to repentance, according to the teaching of the text.